2 Years Together

It's hard to know how the time can fly by so quickly. It's been 2 incredible years together

. . . thankful for each new day, always learning something new about each other, learning how to communicate better, learning how to trust God with the big and small things (especially money), having fun travels together, moving into a new home, serving at church together in many ways, seeing the refining process of marriage, learning how to balance schedules, having morning devotions together, Brian plugging through college,

. . . and goofy little things: going through at least 1 box of Shredded Mini-Wheats per week, making sure I never blow-dry my hair while Brian irons or we'll blow a circuit, trying to find a remedy for very large flocks of geese in our yard (like hundreds), witnessing Brian kill numerous flies with his bare hands, enjoying a good episode of King of Queens, . . . this could get long-winded.

Anyways, we really love life together . . . even through the hard and difficult times. God is very gracious! And, we're very thankful!

My mom gifted us with a trip to D.C. to celebrate 2 years . . .

Washington Monument, and our double-chins :)

The White House

Priding ourselves on cheap-eats: Julie's Empanadas

Yummo empanadas + lunch in the park + warm sunshine = bliss!

Doors I liked - at the Daugthers of American Revolution building

WWII Monument . . . it's new

The Lincoln Memorial

The Jefferson Memorial . . . yea, we got around

We got to see Twelfth Night, very fun

We did the museums, but I'll spare you those pictures

Sunset at the Capital one night

We couldn't pass up the Botanical Gardens, . . . more like I couldn't

An orchid named after me: Mary Orchid


We have many more pictures, but I don't want to bore you :). If you ever want a virtual trip of D.C., let me know. But, really I highly recommend a trip there. It's so unbelievably free everywhere, and we ate at some really fun restaurants. It's was a splendid time!

Do you have a Christmas Pickle?

We received a Christmas pickle (ornament) this year. I thought it was really cute.

The glass Christmas pickle ornament is always the last glass ornament to be hung on the Christmas tree. The parents hide the glass pickle ornament in the Christmas tree among the other German glass ornaments. When the children were allowed to view the
Christmas tree they would begin gleefully searching for the German glass pickle ornament. The children knew that whoever found the glass pickle ornament first would receive an extra little gift and would be the one to begin the unwrapping of the Christmas gifts.

Even though there are no kiddos yet, we're not going to let that stop us. Guess what our "little gift" with the pickle was this year? Back massages!

Home for the Holidays

Better late than never, right? Well, either way, that's the case here :).

Folks, I had 12 days off -- a record -- and I totally enjoyed it! I was smart this year, and I saved vacation time for Christmas. Since Brian is in school, it's nice to enjoy his break with him.

We had a wonderful time hosting family over the holidays. On Christmas Eve, we had the Hand clan, 12 in all. Brian made a great ham with bourbon cola, pineapple rings, and cherries. This was my first Christmas ham . . . I never had ham at Christmas. It was yum!

Christmas Eve evening is always our candlelight service at church -- something not to miss. It was wonderful to hear the story of our Savior's birth again; every year I am more grateful for the life and hope we have through Him. It was also wonderful to see so many church families extended families. And, a blessing to sing (and hear) Silent Night sung acapella with only candles lit. It was special to sit behind friends of our who have a cute newborn girl and almost-2 year old boy, with his hair slicked down, sweater-vest, and wide-eyed at the candle's glow. Many things are precious about our church body -- it's like home.

Jenna (sister-in-law), Mike (Bri's bro), and Dad Hand

On Christmas morning, we open presents on our own -- just us. Guess who got books, and books, and books, . . . to his heart's content? Yup, Brian. And, guess who was completely floored by a new camera and blue tooth? Me!!! So, I took, oh . . . just 200 picture over the holidays. Oops! A little too excited.

Then, we enjoyed brunch and more present opening on Christmas day at my dad and step-mom's. There were out-of-town little neice and nephews there, so there was present-opening-excitement! I just loved sitting back with Brian and enjoying that family time.

All the stockings at my parents . . . we're quite the crew.

Little Jacob, fresh from the tub -- a little chubSisters
John, Robin, Kim, and Joy Ansley and Pop-O (my dad)
Hard to know who likes the toys more . . . Someone is a proud bike owner now . . .
Caleb is teaching Brian about tools . . . or maybe visa versa

Christmas evening, we hosted my mom's family and my bro and his fam -- 11 in all. We aren't often together, so it was really special. My Grammy (yes, I still call her Grammy) had a stroke 2 1/2 years ago, so anytime with her is really precious. Life isn't the same for her -- or the rest of the family for that matter -- anymore.

My Grandpop, Aunt Pat, and Mom - sorry, a little blurry

This Christmas, we were blessed -- in more ways than one.

Peddler's Village Shopping

Every year, the junior high and senior high girls from church go Christmas shopping together and out for lunch. It was a small group this year, but we had a blast at Peddler's Village. Some people from our church entered gingerbread houses in the competition too! They were incredible!

We had fun going into all the shops. It's set up like a little town and there was a Christmas parade and carolers and small bands. And, there were stations with hot cider or a fire to roast a marshmellow. Very cute. It was a wonderful time!

My sis and me . . . she is so grown up!

The girls
Some moms

Joy, in the hat store

Amazing gingerbread houses!!!! The White House and Radio City!!

One of the gingerbread houses our friend from church entered!

Check out two more posts below . . .

The Big 27

Brian turned the big 2-7 on the 6th! He's getting up there . . . gotta rub it in because he's always telling people I'm almost 30 . . . and, I'm only 28. Well, there is no doubt that he has more gray hairs than me, so . . . he looks older, hands down. Ha, ha :).
Anyway, we had a fun time celebrating with family at friends at Buca di Beppo: Italian food, family style, in massive quantities! We had a blast! And, we celebrated again with more family and friends this past weekend. He had a nice extended birthday! Have birthday my love!

Christmas at the Hands

Welcome to Christmas at the Hand's! Decorating is a process, it seems. We began the day after Thanksgiving, and had a blast listening to music, and for Brian that means whistling too. You'll see in the pictures.

I simply love this time of year . . . to celebrate our Savior's birth, partake in all the festivities, be with family, cook goodies, and eat many goodies.

How can you possibly decorate with out the quintessential Macy's hat?!!!

I think the angels were shining through the window
We've got LOTS of ornaments! LOTS!
Whistling

Whistling again.

A favorite ornament: a picture of us from our 1st week of dating . . . on a missions trip in Jamaica . . . on the bus

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving . . . already?

Yup. We celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday with some of my fam because my dad, step-mom, and Joy will be down south with my bro and fam for Thanksgiving this year. (But, don't worry, we'll be doing Thanksgiving again this Thursday). We had fun with extended family . . . and we had the infamous 7-course dinner. Oh, it was wonderful. Most people take pictures of all the people at family gatherings (and we did some of that), but I'm the nutty person who is taking pictures of the food. What can I say, I love food and good presentation!! I did fail to take pictures of everything . . . oh, well.

Brian and I were in charge of make butternut squash soup and apple crumb pie. I knowing you're dying to see the pictures, right? Well, even if you're not, . . . they're here:

When this came out, my 7 year old step-cousin's eyes bug out . . . he's never seen a small tree coming out of his pasta


You'd never think that you have to ration out a huge salad, but my one step-cousin can pack away salad like nobody's business. She was sad she couldn't have a 4th bowl.


So, I did a bad job of taking pictures of the rest of the courses. I got lost in the scrumpious food. When I came-to again, it was already time for egg nog. Oops! Egg nog surely is wonderful stuff, especially with egg nog ice cream in it.


Well, I'm sure we'll have more (boring) food pictures for you this coming week again :). And, we'll hopefully get some family pictures. In general, food doesn't give me such a hard time about posing for a picture (or getting it's "good side"). But, we'll see what we can do.


Don't forget to check out the two posts below . . . and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Senior High Girls

It was about time for another senior high girls sleepover at our house. I really enjoy these girls so much. We had a fun time making pumpkin pies for our church's Harvest Home ministry (a Thanksgiving ministry to those in our church and surrounding community). Some girls also made the breakfast casserole we were going to have in the morning. And, other girls made cookies . . . well, for us . . . we needed some chocolate and sugar.

Then, (with Christmas music in the air), we made some Christmas cards for older folks and shut-ins. That was a fun time. While we made cards, it was a great time of going around and sharing different things we were thankful for. I love hearing how deep these girls can get with different things they are grateful for.

Then, we played a Cranium game called Whoonu. Ever heard of it? I hadn't. Brian picked it up at a local thrift store on Friday. (Brian is the most amazing thrift store shopper, if you were wondering :). It's a fun game, where you have to guess other players' "favorites." We had some good laughs.

Around 12:30am, girls started getting ready for bed and they were out surprisingly fast. Saturday morning was breakfast casserole (yum -- good work girls), and cinnamin buns (which you can never go wrong with). After some quick clean up, we were off to Color Me Mine, where we painted pottery for 3 hours. The girls love it, and they especially wanted to go in November in order to make Christmas gifts. I love seeing each girls' creativity come out.

God has really blessed me with these girls.

Football season ended

Brian coached his 6th year of football. He was promoted to defensive coordinator this year, and I'm not prejudice or anything, . . . but I think their 7-1 record was definitely due to some good coaching :). Brian enjoyed having some good talent; then again, you should if you have 65 some guys. I had fun snapping some pics at their last game (as I froze on the sidelines) . . .

Let's go Penndale!

Brian with his defense peeps

Shaking hands . . . really the victory walk

The coaches' victory walk

A "good-season-boys" talk . . .

Introducing . . . Hand Designs

Some of you faithful bloggers might remember one of my posts last May about starting a business . . .

Well peeps, it happened. Don't worry, I haven't been holding out on you too long, . . . but that has been the reason for my very few posts . . . busy with starting up the biz.

Let me introduce you to Hand Designs. Here's a little history (for those of you saying, "Are you crazy?!!! You're starting a business?!!!") . . . Last May, I threw a baby shower for a coworker, and made up some fun invitations, and thought I'd try my hand at a diaper cake. (Here is a diaper cake if you've never seen one). My coworkers ended up loving the diaper cake to my surprise . . . so much so that my coworker wanted to order one from me later in the summer. And, she asked for some business cards to give out at the baby shower she was attending.

So, the summer is going by (and , I'm not really thinking about starting a business). I find some business cards online, and I find a website promotion. So, I fiddled around with the website and took pictures of my various products. I wanted to make sure the website was up and running for ladies that received my business card.

When I brought the diaper cake into work to deliver to my coworker, others found out. And, people commented again that I should start a business. This time I could say, "Actually, I have a website now. You should check it out." So, in a day, I had two stationary orders. I couldn't believe it. And, one of my coworkers (thanks Gina!) offered to host an evening "debut" for Hand Designs. And, the debut was a week and a half ago. It went surprisingly well, and I sold much more than I anticipated.

So, we'll see where it goes. I enjoy creating these products, and it's helping to provide the extra income we were hoping to make.

Take a look and let me know what you think.